Pages

Friday 28 August 2015

10 Everyday Reasons Why Statistics Are Important

Statistics are sets of mathematical equations that are used to analyze what is happening in the world around us. You've heard that today we live in the Information Age where we understand a great deal about the world around us. Much of this information was determined mathematically by using statistics. When used correctly, statistics tell us any trends in what happened in the past and can be useful in predicting what may happen in the future.
Let's look at some examples of how statistics shape your life when you don't even know it.

1. Weather Forecasts

Do you watch the weather forecast sometime during the day? How do you use that information? Have you ever heard the forecaster talk about weather models? These computer models are built using statistics that compare prior weather conditions with current weather to predict future weather.

2. Emergency Preparedness

What happens if the forecast indicates that a hurricane is imminent or that tornadoes are likely to occur? Emergency management agencies move into high gear to be ready to rescue people. Emergency teams rely on statistics to tell them when danger may occur.

3. Predicting Disease

Lots of times on the news reports, statistics about a disease are reported. If the reporter simply reports the number of people who either have the disease or who have died from it, it's an interesting fact but it might not mean much to your life. But when statistics become involved, you have a better idea of how that disease may affect you.
For example, studies have shown that 85 to 95 percent of lung cancers are smoking related. The statistic should tell you that almost all lung cancers are related to smoking and that if you want to have a good chance of avoiding lung cancer, you shouldn't smoke.

4. Medical Studies

Scientists must show a statistically valid rate of effectiveness before any drug can be prescribed. Statistics are behind every medical study you hear about.

5. Genetics

Many people are afflicted with diseases that come from their genetic make-up and these diseases can potentially be passed on to their children. Statistics are critical in determining the chances of a new baby being affected by the disease.

6. Political Campaigns

Whenever there's an election, the news organizations consult their models when they try to predict who the winner is. Candidates consult voter polls to determine where and how they campaign. Statistics play a part in who your elected government officials will be

7. Insurance

You know that in order to drive your car you are required by law to have car insurance. If you have a mortgage on your house, you must have it insured as well. The rate that an insurance company charges you is based upon statistics from all drivers or homeowners in your area.

8. Consumer Goods

Wal-Mart, a worldwide leading retailer, keeps track of everything they sell and use statistics to calculate what to ship to each store and when. From analyzing their vast store of information, for example, Wal-Mart decided that people buy strawberry Pop Tarts when a hurricane is predicted in Florida! So they ship this product to Florida stores based upon the weather forecast.

9. Quality Testing

Companies make thousands of products every day and each company must make sure that a good quality item is sold. But a company can't test each and every item that they ship to you, the consumer. So the company uses statistics to test just a few, called a sample, of what they make. If the sample passes quality tests, then the company assumes that all the items made in the group, called a batch, are good.

10. Stock Market

Another topic that you hear a lot about in the news is the stock market. Stock analysts also use statistical computer models to forecast what is happening in the economy.

Tuesday 25 August 2015

Advice in Starting a New Job

Starting a new job is a time of optimism. In front of you is pure potential, with promises made in the interviewing process still ringing in your ears.
The first days can be a heady rush of excitement, engagement, and disorientation. Changing jobs is ranked among the highest stressors in a person’s life. Forward-thinking companies are going to great lengths to  during the onboarding process to make those early days on the job comfortable, dynamic and even fun. The idea is to give newbies a strong first impression of the organization, inspiring loyalty and passion from the start.
During the first weeks, both the new hire and the company are assessing each other. Many people choose to leave a new job after only a few months, and employers generally know even sooner whether their candidate will live up to their expectations. The adage “hire slow and fire fast” is a well-worn piece of management advice.
For new employees in a management position, it can be extra overwhelming to step into a new job with a team to corral and expectations for immediate delivery. New leaders are often brought in to affect change, and all eyes are on them to see if they can pull it off.
Michael Watkins, author of the preeminent guide The First 90 Days, calls the first three months in a new job the time most “fraught with peril and loaded with opportunity.” His wisdom, and research, has helped many masterfully onboard into new positions. Consider the following advice from, and inspired by, Watkins to help you make a successful transition.

1. Go in ready to learn.
You may be going into a new position driven to do something, but first spend time listening and understanding the culture. If you have a few weeks before starting your new job, use it wisely. Read up on the company, and invite your future colleagues to lunch. Learn the names of key influencers and direct reports, and what their areas of focus are. Ask others on the outside who know the company — such as consultants or business partners — for their perspectives.

Then, spend your first week on the job as if you were a journalist conducting interviews — asking more and telling less. Watkins suggests that failing to understand the culture is a major risk factor for early derailment. You need to get a feel for your new company’s unique political currents, so that you’ll fit into the system, and know how to use it to your advantage.

2. Understand the strategy behind your efforts.
If you’ll be leading a team or even an entire organization, you have to recognize early on how to approach the challenges you’ll be facing.  Watkins categorizes businesses into four main types: startup, turnaround, realignment, and sustaining success. Each type has unique issues and demands different strategies.
As Watkins describes, “In a startup, the new leader is charged with assembling the capabilities (people, funding, and technology) to get a new business, product or project off the ground. In a turnaround, the new leader takes on a unit or group that is recognized to be in trouble and works to get it back on track. In a realignment, the challenge is to revitalize a unit, product, process, or project that is drifting into trouble. In a sustaining-success situation, the new leader is shouldering responsibility for preserving the vitality of a successful organization and taking it to the next level.”
Whether you use Watkins’ classifications or your own, the important thing to remember is that not all organizations have the same problems, or the same solutions to those problems. What worked at your last company may not be suitable in your new one. Meet the organization where it is, and only then can you move forward successfully.

3. Get early wins.
Watkins talks extensively about the need to secure early achievements. Those first impressions matter and are highly visible. But even more so, early wins get you political capital you’ll need to further your future goals. Consider it like perception bias — if you’re viewed favorably early then the rose-colored glasses come out and you can enjoy a honeymoon period.

However, not all early wins are equal. Watkins suggests narrowly focusing on what is achievable and be mindful to not spread yourself too thin. He warns to take the culture into careful account so you don’t appear to be pushing through your priorities at the expense of others. And finally, he advises to select wins that matter to your boss. It’s one thing to pick your own pet projects, and an entirely different strategy to hit the issues your boss cares about. When you do the latter, you build credibility and show that you get the larger picture.

4. Build a network of trusted colleagues.
One of the most difficult aspects of being new is that you lack context, and don’t yet have the feedback channels to provide guidance. No matter your level of position, you need others who can give you the straight scoop. So start working on developing your network of trusted sources immediately — or even before you start.
When you’re new at a job you can tend to play your cards close to the vest. Push yourself to get in front of others and start forming relationships. Look for ways to extend offers or favors to others. While strong relationships are helpful to understand the culture and get your job done, they also increase your satisfaction.
As we began this article, the early months can be tough and a social network can alleviate the stress. According to a Randstad survey, 67% of employees report that having friends at work makes their job more fun and enjoyable and 55% feel that these relationships make their job more worthwhile and satisfying.

Sunday 23 August 2015

How to Handle Moving Home


Tips for navigating the stress of relocating and feeling at home in a new place from psychologist and psychotherapist Elizabeth Stirling, PhD.
Expert Source: Santa Fe, N.M.–based psychologist and psychotherapist Elizabeth Stirling, PhD, specializes in supporting people who are in the midst of significant life changes and transitions.
Americans move a lot. According to a 2013 Gallup survey, nearly a quarter of the adult U.S. population moved during the previous five years. Many of us feel compelled to pack up and change locations routinely, ever in search of new opportunities, like our immigrant or pioneer ancestors.
Relocating to a new city or town is stressful for anybody, even if the move represents a positive change. Largely this is because uprooting yourself from familiar places and people is never easy, and the challenges of adjusting to a new locale are many. How will you find your way around? How will you make friends? Will you lose all the friends you made in your former home? Does anyone sell your favorite mustard? On top of that, you may have second thoughts — did I really make the right decision? What if I’m miserable here?
Elizabeth Stirling, PhD, a Santa Fe, N.M.–based psychologist and psychotherapist who specializes in helping people navigate major life changes, offers some simple advice for overcoming moving anxiety and easing into a new place.

BARRIERS TO OVERCOME

  • Fear of the unknown. Stirling points out that it’s natural to worry about the unforeseeable — what this new place will be like as a home, how you’ll respond to it, and so on. Any major change brings unpredictability, which is unsettling.
  • Unfamiliarity with the process. “One big determinant of how stressed a move will make you is how often you’ve moved before,” Stirling says. If you’ve never made the transition or your last move was in childhood, you’re bound to be more concerned about the process than a veteran relocator.
  • Concerns about losing old friends and making new ones. Parting with familiar people and setting yourself up in a new place usually brings loneliness — and the worry that old friends will disappear from your life entirely. Meanwhile, the prospect of making new friends can be daunting.
  • The sheer labor. There’s no way around it — moving takes a lot of work, and you may feel overwhelmed by the myriad details and decisions, from arranging for the moving van to setting up water and electricity in the new place. Then there’s discovering the best grocery stores, restaurants, and possible schools near your new home.
  • Regret. In any major life change, even the most positive, there will be things that you’ll miss about your old life. Some regret is inevitable, Stirling believes, but having second thoughts doesn’t necessarily mean the move was a mistake.

STRATEGIES FOR SUCCESS

  • Research the new place. Before you leave your familiar surroundings, learn about your new home through books, maps, online sites, and people who know the area, Stirling suggests. If you don’t have time to do much research before you move, do it when you get there. Pretend you’re a tourist and you don’t want to miss anything.
  • Think positive. “One of the greatest rewards of moving is the fact that it represents new beginnings and new excitement — a fresh landscape, new people to meet, perhaps a new and better job,” Stirling says. “If you keep that in mind, you can overcome a lot of negative feelings about the changes.”
  • Create and use a support system. Don’t hesitate to get support from your good friends in the place you’re leaving. “If you’re feeling down about the move, before, during, or after, let them know it and ask for their support,” Stirling says. “Contact them after you’ve moved, and go back to visit them, too, if you can, for some TLC.”
  • To make new friends, be a joiner. Mutual-interest clubs, classes, and religious gathering places offer easy and immediate opportunities to connect with new people. Stirling suggests finding groups to join as soon as it’s practical.
  • Learn from your new contacts. “Finding resources, like good restaurants, doctors, massage therapists, and such, can take time,” says Stirling, “but you can do it best through the people you meet.”
  • Involve the kids. If you’re moving with kids, ease their stress by including them in the process. “Show them maps, get them involved in finding information about the new place,” recommends Stirling. Try to minimize disruption to the school year.
  • Don’t move alone. “It’s difficult to move on your own,” says Stirling. If you’re single, or the only adult, she suggests asking a relative or friend to help you with the process. He or she can assist with the endless details, like scheduling moving trucks and connecting new utilities, as well as provide emotional support.

Tuesday 11 August 2015

VIDEO Whats the problem with nudity?


Thursday 6 August 2015

How to remove unwanted thoughts?

How to remove unwanted thoughts?

Would you like to remove unwanted thoughts or some memory of shame or regret that just irritates you like a parasite?
Maybe your in love or envy and just can’t take the thought of it no more?
Maybe you just want to take your mind off something and it just seems to come back in the most unexpected moments.
A divorce? A loss? Embarrassment? Injury? Desire? What people think of you?
I once heart from a biologist that these thoughts are provoked just hormones being released, balanced and mixed in your system, her explanation of reality always leaks down to fluids. Obviously she’s a woman and you can’t disagree with that its all functions of our body from hunger to random thoughts are hormones and chemistry reactions. But knowing what it is doesn’t help you at all.
There is however a self-hypnosis technique that can make you stop thinking unwanted thoughts, as all other self-hypnosis methods, it will work if you believe it in your heart that it will. This technique will allow you to fool yourself without force or realizing how it will work.
You will just have to trust it for a few moments, then after it works and you stop thinking about you, just remember that it worked for you.
I mean how else can you recommend this blog if it suddenly does work and you can’t remember it so before you continue rss subscribe to this blog.

Let us begin. How to remove Unwanted Thoughts?

Simply follow these instructions and analyse yourself, your body and thoughts as you do this. Do not touch yourself, that’s just eeky. After I will explain how it works.
Take a large breath, right now.
Just inhale and hold it,
as you do that, are you relaxing?
How relaxed would it feel if you
make another large breath?
Try to relax a bit more as you breath out.
Now, I want you to remember
those unwanted thoughts
that you would want to avoid in the future.
Think about them now.
Force them on yourself and think about it.
Watch your unwanted thoughts you want to remove
as in some movie.
Are there any images, where were you when it happened?
Is there any sound?
Just force your brain to hear it.
Are there any faces?
Just force your brain to look at them.
Now take another breath and Force yourself to re-watch it.
Stop reading and watch
it again exactly the same scenario
with same images, sounds, faces.
After you are done,
and it is important you really do rewatch it twice.
Believe it will work.
 And Force yourself to watch it a third time.
Get a bit annoyed by watching it the third time.
Take your time and watch it the third time,
 do not change anything.
Your brain will now become very bored with watching this image.
Your brain is like a little child,
it does not enjoy being
forced to do homework,
to watch what you are forcing it to watch.
Now, after you read this, close your eyes
and imagine a dirty window, a wooden white frame
and the same visual scenario on the glass.
Imagine what the same memory for the forth time
on the dirty window, the same visuals, sounds,
faces. Its like watching a movie on a window.
Now imagine yourself taking a white towel.
Look at the Towel, its clean. Put it on the window,
right over the dirty image of this memory.
Wipe it clean. Rub it off, see that there is
nothing behind it. Its just a clear white sky.
If you are a charming reader and actully follow what you just read once or twice. Your brain will now grow bored of the images you forced on it. No human brain likes to be forced to do anything, it likes to be lazy, distracted by random thoughts it gives you. it likes to tease you. But as soon as you force it to watch something, as if telling it “Ha, watch it bitch! And AgaiN! and Again!! HahA I’m!” The brain will get “scared” and “bored” and it will never again come back to those thoughts.
To make sure this works, use this day to completely remove unwanted thoughts from your head. Whenever you are thinking on something other then your unwanted thoughts. Force yourself to think on those thoughts. Force and wipe them off as explained above.
I assure you, as I have been doing this to myself to clean my conscience and it worked like a wonder.

Sunday 2 August 2015

Fact or Fiction?: Video Games Are the Future of Education

As kids all across the U.S. head back to school, they’re being forced to spend less time in front of their favorite digital distractions. Or are they?

Video games are playing an increasing role in school curricula as teachers seek to deliver core lessons such as math and reading—not to mention new skills such as computer programming—in a format that holds their students’ interests. Some herald this gamification of education as the way of the future and a tool that allows students to take a more active role in learning as they develop the technology skills they need to succeed throughout their academic and professional careers.

Few would argue that video games can do it all in terms of education, says Scot Osterweil, a research director in Massachusetts Institute of Technology’s Comparative Media Studies program and creative director of the school’s Education Arcade initiative to explore how games can be used to promote learning. But games are a powerful learning tool when combined with other exploratory, hands-on activities and ongoing instruction from a teacher acting more as a coach than a lecturer, he adds.

Others, however, question whether a greater reliance on video games is in students’ best interests, indicating there is little proof that skillful game play translates into better test scores or broader cognitive development.

In the past decade schools have become preoccupied with meeting national Common Core standards, which dictate what students should be able to accomplish in English and mathematics at the end of each grade and use standardized testing as a way of tracking a student’s progress. Such demands are not conducive to creative teaching methods that incorporate video games, Osterweil acknowledges. He adds, however, that a growing backlash against the perceived overuse of standardized tests is starting to encourage creativity once again.

Gamestars
Testing fatigue, combined with more pervasive computer use in and out of the classroom and continued experimentation with games as learning tools, suggests that such video games will play a significant role in the future of education. The Quest to Learn public school in New York City offers a glimpse of how gaming is already transforming not just how students learn, but also what they learn. The teachers there have been using the principles of video game design to write their curriculum since the school opened its doors in 2009. This curriculum—organized into missions and quests—focuses on multifaceted challenges that may have more than one correct answer, letting students explore different solutions by making choices along the way, says Ross Flatt, assistant principal at the school.

More than simply playing video games, Quest to Learn students also study game design using Gamestar Mechanic and other computer programs. After students successfully complete Gamestar missions, they are awarded avatars and other tools they can use to build their own games.

If educational video games are well executed, they can provide a strong framework for inquiry and project-based learning, says Alan Gershenfeld, co-founder and president of E-Line Media, a publisher of computer and video games and a Founding Industry Fellow at Arizona State University’s Center for Games and Impact. “Games are also uniquely suited to fostering the skills necessary for navigating a complex, interconnected, rapidly changing 21st century,” he adds.

Digital literacy and understanding how systems (computer and otherwise) work will become increasingly important in a world where many of today’s students will pursue jobs that do not currently exist, says Gershenfeld, who wrote about video games’ potential to transform education in the February Scientific American. Tomorrow’s workers will also likely change jobs many times throughout their careers and “will almost certainly have jobs that require some level of mastery of digital media and technology,” he adds.

Gaming the system
Parents of school-age children are likely familiar with Minecraft, a digital game that promotes imagination as players build various structures out of cubes. MinecraftEdu, a version of the game that teachers created for educational purposes, teaches students mathematical concepts including perimeter, area and probabilities as well as foreign languages. SimCityEDU, a version of the popular city-building game, is likewise a learning and assessment tool for middle school students that covers the English, math and other lessons they need to master to meet Common Core State and Next Generation Science standards.

Beyond teaching, video games can also offer useful information about how well a child is learning and can even provide helpful visual displays of that information, says Brian Waniewski, social entrepreneur and former managing director of the Institute of Play, a nonprofit that promotes the problem-solving nature of game play and game design as a model for learning in secondary schools. Video games can also provide instantaneous feedback—typically via scores—that teachers and students can use to determine how well students understand what the games are trying to teach them.

Limitations

For all of the enthusiasm around games and learning, very few studies have examined whether video games improve classroom performance and academic achievement, says Emma Blakey, PhD researcher in developmental psychology at the University of Sheffield in England. “Because we know memory is a crucial cognitive skill for school learning, practice at playing games that challenge memory should, in theory, lead to improvements in classroom behavior and academic skills,” she says. But only additional research can say if that notion is correct.

A 2013 University of Cambridge study joined by Darren Dunning of the University of York, found that the improvements in game scores for children with low levels of working memory did not extend to broader skills. Working memory is the cognitive system responsible for the temporary storage of information we need to support ongoing everyday activities, such as a locker combination or a friend’s Twitter handle. The study gave seven- to nine-year-olds up to 25 sessions of either video games set to challenge their working memory—the so-called “CogMed” approach—or the same video games set at an easy level. The researchers then examined whether playing the more difficult games improved performance on additional measures of working memory as well as enhanced other skills, including math, reading, writing and following instructions in a classroom. The study concluded that brain-training video games improve children’s performance only on very similar games, an effect that likely results from practice.

Digital games cannot be treated like the latest quick fix to the education system, Waniewski says. “They can seem like a godsend, a next-generation digital textbook that further reduces the need for human resources,” he notes. Yet games alone will not make schools more efficient, replace teachers or serve as an educational resource that can reach an infinite number of students, he adds.

Video games are not necessarily the most cost-effective option for schools with tight budgets and crowded classrooms, either. They require computers, tablets or other specialized technology as well as dedicated Internet servers and other communications systems. There may also be a need for additional infrastructure, personnel and teacher training. A full, game-infused curriculum could cost millions of dollars and require ongoing support, Gershenfeld says.

The extent to which video games are the future of education remains to be seen. But if the present is any indication, teachers are embracing the medium and are likely to continue to do so. In fact, of those teachers who use video games in the classroom, more than half have kids play them as part of the curriculum at least once a week, according to a national survey released by education researchers at Joan Ganz Cooney Center in June.

Perhaps the biggest impact of video games will be on students who have not responded as well to traditional teaching methods. Nearly half of the teachers surveyed say it is the low-performing students who generally benefit from the use of games, and more than half believe games have the ability to motivate struggling and special education students.